The present invention relates to devices for supporting drawer guides and the like and, more particularly, to a device in the form of a unitary continuous strip adapted to support channel-shaped drawer guides. The invention is particularly useful with metal drawer guides having a shallow U-shape cross-section of the type commonly used with nylon rollers for ease of operation. Such drawer guides are frequently used in wooden cabinets and desks.
A variety of desks and cabinets (hereinafter referred to generically as cabinets) are manufactured today with drawer guide hardware including metal drawer guides which may conveniently be supported on the front and back panels of such cabinet. In some cases the support member on the rear wall or panel is in the form of a plastic socket or the like which is fastened in the appropriate place on the rear wall and into which the end of the drawer guide can be inserted.
A difficulty with the above-described socket arrangement is that each of the individual sockets must be carefully oriented and aligned on the rear wall in order that the drawers will remain level and will operate properly, that is, without having a twist imposed on the drawer by the drawer guide. Therefore, it will be appreciated that the proper alignment of the sockets constitutes a time consuming assembly problem.
Accordingly, it is an important object of the present invention to facilitate the assembly of support members for supporting drawer guides or the like by establishing the proper orientation and alignment for the support of an entire group of drawer guides in one simple operation.
It is another important object of the invention to provide a unitary drawer guide support member which fits inside the rear wall of a cabinet for supporting an entire vertical row of drawer guides, and which is automatically self-indexed to the correct elevation position within the cabinet.
It is another important object of the present invention to provide a unitary drawer guide support member in the form of a continuous strip defining the required support members for one or more drawer guides and providing the inherent function that each drawer guide may be selectively mounted at different convenient elevation intervals which are less than the end dimensions of the drawer guide without moving the support member.
Another important object of the present invention is to provide a guide support member in the form of a continuous strip which may be easily shortened to a selected length to provide the required support member for one or more drawer guides, and in which each incremental length provides for selective mounting of a drawer guide at different convenient elevation intervals.
The present invention overcomes the drawbacks and deficiencies of the prior art as alluded to and fulfills the objects heretofore recited. To achieve these ends, a principal feature of the present invention provides a continuous mounting or support strip adapted to be mounted on the back wall of a cabinet, such support strip having a combination of a vertical channel and horizontally extending slots spaced at appropriate intervals along the length of the vertical channel, this combination serving together to provide the structural equivalent of U-shaped sockets for the drawer guides.
In the preferred embodiment to be described these intervals have been chosen to be 1/2 inch, but they could be selected to be much smaller, for example a quarter of an inch or less. The typical width for the end of the drawer guide is one inch so that in the case of 1/2 inch spacing between the aforenoted slots, the slot spacing is one half the end width of the drawer guide. This is extremely convenient in adjusting the drawer guide height at the time of assembling the cabinet and particularly the drawers thereof.
A further advantage that results from the construction of the present invention is that a minimum amount of material is necessary in providing the equivalent of the prior art U-shaped sockets. Thus, the only elements required are thin flanges for defining a vertical channel, and the aforenoted horizontal slots for proper support against vertical movement. This advantage will be apparent as the description proceeds.
Yet another advantage of the present invention is that the support strips, which may be composed of metal or preferably of molded plastic material, may also include portions of reduced thickness, between which portions a particular desired length of mounting strip can be retained and the rest of the strip can be broken off.
Other and further objects, advantages and features of the present invention will be understood by reference to the following specification in conjunction with the annexed drawings, wherein like parts have been given like numbers.